Talks on forming a right-wing government between the VVD Liberals, anti-Islam PVV and Christian Democrats stranded on Thursday morning, sending negotiator Uri Rosenthal back to queen Beatrix to discuss what to do next.

The talks collapsed after CDA leader Maxime Verhagen refused to join the other two parties until they had agreed how to deal with the economy and issues such as the PVV’s demand for ethnic registration and a Muslim headscarf tax.

Verhagen told reporters he had made it quite clear since last Friday that the PVV and VVD first had to agree on key issues. Both those parties made strong gains in last week’s general election, while the CDA vote halved.

Progress

‘ I said that again on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday,’ Verhagen said. ‘ To my regret they do not appear to have made any progress.’

There is also strong opposition within the CDA to joining a coalition with the PVV because of its anti-Islam stance. A number of prominent party members threatened to quit if the CDA joined a government which included Wilders.

Unrealistic

Liberal leader Mark Rutte said Verhagen’s position was ‘unealistic’.

‘It appears that the CDA does not want to take part and does not want to sit at the table with me and Geert Wilders,’ he told reporters.

Wilders said he is ‘very disappointed’ . ‘You do business with the three of you. You cannot negotiate with an empty chair,’ Wilders said. ‘He is ignoring 1.5 million voters who want to change the Netherlands.’

Labour

Although the PVV made the most gains in last week’s election, boosting its share of the vote to around 15%, the Labour party PvdA has six more seats in parliament.

Pundits say Rosenthal is now likely to begin looking at forming a ‘purple plus’ coalition, a combination of the VVD, PvdA and minor parties D66 and GroenLinks.

No PVV participation in a new coalition… And to bring even more cheer, we will get a Purple+ cabinet where almost 2/3 of the votes are of the left and very left. Another reason to intensely hate the christian democrats.